Restaurant Review – The Windmill Clapham Common
(we used the Eat Out To Help Out Discount to dine here. Check out this post for more Clapham Common restaurants taking part in this deal)
Looking to finally get out of the house and grab some food that I’ve not cooked myself AND trying to stay as safe as possible, I looked at The Windmill Clapham Common.
Where is The Windmill Clapham Common?
Clapham Common is in South London, on the Northern Line tube you could get off at either Clapham Common station or Clapham South. They are about the same distance to walk and you can go through the park for a bit of scenery. If you are driving there are a few car parking spots out the front but they are pay for parking.
Outside The Windmill Clapham Common
One side of The Windmill is a busy road connecting further south London to north London (Stockwell/Vauxhall and beyond). However, you can see from the map above that the other side of The Windmill is the glorious Clapham Common. I’m a bit biased but it is the best Common in London! 😀
There are two outside seating areas at The Windmill. One looked liked a pub seating area and then off to the left is a seating area that is an extension of the indoor dining area.
Inside the The Windmill Clapham Common
During the old Pando’ we decided not to go inside so chose outdoor seating and it was all waiter’d service so we didn’t need to go inside.
The Menu
There are actually a couple of menus you can order from. We went for lunch and were offered the ‘sandwich’ menu and the ‘all day’ menu. There were 4 sandwiches on the separate menu and then 10 main courses on the ‘all-day’ menu. The menus aren’t massive but it does help you in making a decision!
The Food
I was very tempted by one of the sandwiches but none of the small plates tempted me. The Camembert sharer nearly got me however it was so hot today that some baked cheese didn’t appeal. And that’s not a phrase you will see me write very often!
The Mains Event
We ordered two main courses and a side of ‘summer greens’. The side salad option didn’t appeal to either of us so the summer greens got added.
I had the Flat Iron steak. From the sandwich menu they had a flat iron steak with some blue cheese and this was nearly what I ordered. A the last moment I decided to go for the steak with chips, onion rings and garlic butter. You will have seen on previous restaurant reviews – like Cafe Rouge in St Kathryn Dock – that I do like a flavoured butter for my steak. I don’t tend to order Flat Iron as a steak cut but I asked for it medium rare and I’d say half the steak was medium and the other medium-well. I didn’t fancy sending it back so I just enjoyed it.
The onion rings were really good. My last couple of onion ring orders have been disappointing so I’m glad that The Windmill Clapham Common managed to make really good ones. Serving the steak with garlic butter gives some great additional flavour and I really enjoyed it.
My dining partner had the fish and chips. This was served with a bit of grilled lemon and mushy peas. It looked good on the plate and if there was a complaint it was that it was a long, thin, fillet of cod and it would have looked a lot better if it was a ‘meaty’ short and tall (so ‘bigger’).
The summer greens looked to be cabbage and courgette. I think there was some spring greens in there but that could have just been the cabbage. These gave a nice bit of veg to both of our plates although mine did have a bit of watercress, just not enough to be ‘enough’.
Cost of Lunch at The Windmill Clapham Common
During the old Pando’ there are two things affecting restaurant prices. We have seen a reduction in VAT (I covered this on this blog post) on food/drinks. On £20 worth of food/drinks this would work out at about a £2.50 ‘discount’. On top of this the government are offering a ‘Eat Out to Help Out‘ 50% discount (up to a maximum £10 discount). I knew that both of these would bring down the cost of our meal.
My steak main was £20, the fish & chips £18 and the side dish £4.50. Add a couple of drinks (£3 each) and we are looking at almost £50 worth of ‘lunch’. After the two discounts the total bill was £22! A bargain when you consider the surrounding and the tasty food. It also isn’t paid for by the restaurant/pub so you don’t have to feel like you are screwing them down to get something as cheap as possible while also risking their business going under.
There was a bit of confusion where I asked to add a £5 tip which should have made a total of £27 but I got charged £28. I paid by ‘tapping’ so didn’t notice the extra quid. Not the end of the world and certainly not something I was going to go back and argue over.
The Reverend’s Final Thought
All in all I would recommend The Windmill. Even at full price, these weren’t bad prices for a London pub, let alone one in such a great location. During the Pando’ they are only accepting bookings for the restaurant seating, not walk-ins, so use their online booking system to make sure you get a table.
The Windmill in Clapham Common does some excellent food. I can recommend the flat-iron steak, for sure! We did everything we could to reduce the risk from the Pando’ by sitting outside and following the ‘directions’ on how to get to the table. Our booking was 2 hours between 12-2pm and what was strange is that although we were the 2nd table to be seated, for some reason we got sat next to the 1st table instead of one of the other empty 4 or 5 tables for 2 that were in the seating area. It would have made sense to spaced out the arrivals to keep the space between them as maximised as possible. We did move tables to start with, due to the sun, but then almost immedately the 3rd table to arrive was sat in our original seat so there were 3 tables occupied and then 3 empty tables – surely alternately used tables would have made more sense?
Check out my other Clapham restaurant reviews here https://thereverend.co.uk/tag/clapham/
Check out my other restaurant reviews here https://thereverend.co.uk/category/food/restaurant-reviews/